Balance Band Power Band Bracelets

Balance band the power band bracelet and pendants are everywhere, I have read all the hype by the big name sports personalities and seen many of them being worn by celebrities on TV. Like anyone who has witnessed this phenomenon I am curious as to if and how a balance band works. Christmas is just around the corner I am sure that many people are considering giving a power band bracelet as a gift, so do they work or are they this year’s snake oil?

While I am not prepared to spend a lot of time doing scientific research for a product such as this (and if the claims are true I should not have to, the band should just work, case closed) to find out the benefits for Triathletes, I was recently bought one by a relative who wanted a second opinion after purchasing one himself. He said he was feeling something and wanted to make sure it worked and that he was not imagining the effects, he was very excited and animated so I accepted the gift and gave it a try.

I wore the power band for over a week to see if the claims of balance power and becoming centered and adding a physical edge to my workouts and my daily life were true. The short answer is that for me nothing whatsoever happened, I never felt better or worse at any time, my workouts were not better and I did not feel any more or less balanced than usual or seem to have any physical edge.

As I have already mentioned, these power bands have some pretty big household names using them like Shaq, Formula1 driver Rubens Barrichello and Scott Kazmir, who says that it gives him balance when he is pitching, if it works for these pro athletes then why not for me?

You can look around the Internet and see some wild unsubstantiated claims about what the power bands do, there are demonstrations showing how they work, and other people showing how you can easily fake these demonstrations, like a carnival trick. Many are convinced that they do actually work and this is often countered by skeptics saying that these people believe it because they want to, but it is all in their heads and the bands actually do nothing. I have also seen other claims stating that the band would need to be 12Km long for it to actually have the desired effect.

I do not know if they work, if people are getting the benefits they say they are (other than money) by wearing power bands then good luck to them, I hope it continues. For me absolutely nothing happened and the band is in the drawer with all the stuff I bought from the “As Advertised On TV” store in the mall. Maybe give someone a nice book or some new running shoes for Christmas instead, they usually provide good balance and work for everyone.